The Arctos Group:
The story behind the name

Modern technology has cast us upon an uncharted sea of information
where we can seek the riches of distant shores -- or drift aimlessly
while others sail past.

Since ancient times, voyages across thousands of miles of unmarked water
have been made possible by the classic methods of celestial navigation.
The Odyssey of Homer refers to the constellations and describes how
the stars could serve as guiding beacons. Thus, through an understanding
of theoretical astronomy, the Greeks were able to chart important commercial
trade routes and dominate the markets of their day.

Among the more important navigational constellations in the northern
celestial hemisphere is Big Dipper, which marks the sky near the North Pole.
It comprises part of the constellation known to the ancient Greeks as
Arktos, the Bear, and later to the Romans as Ursa Major, the Great
Bear.

Of the seven stars constituting the Big Dipper, six are of the second
magnitude and one is of the third magnitude. Two of the second-magnitude
stars, Alpha and Beta Ursa Major, point directly to the North Star,
Polaris, and hence are called the Pointers.

To the ancient Greeks, the seemingly-remote theories of astronomy held
important application to navigating the routes of commercial trade.
Today, information technologies are essential to institutional
investors, advisors, appraisers, managers and other real estate
professionals who desire to remain effective and competitive.
The Arctos Group can help you and your organization use fundamental
technologies to find important opportunities on the ever-expanding sea
of information.

"Long ago in Arcadia there lived a king named Lykaon who had
a beautiful daughter called Callisto. The princess was a huntress
and a follower of the virgin goddess Artemis and had sworn that she
would never love any man. But one hot summer afternoon while Callisto
was sleeping under a tree in the forest, Zeus, the king of the gods,
saw her and fell in love with her. At first, remembering her promise,
Callisto resisted him; but presently she returned his love.

"When Artemis' other maidens learned what Callisto had done, they would
hunt and play with her no longer. Sad and lonely, she wandered off
into the woods of Arcadia, where there were no people, only wolves and
bears and other wild beasts. There she gave birth to a baby boy whom she
named Arcas.

"Now when the queen of the gods, Hera, heard what had happened she became
jealous. She descended to earth and appeared before Callisto, full of
rage. Calling out words of power, she flung her to the ground. At once
the princess's robes dropped from her, her arms and legs thickened
and became shaggy with fur, and her face lengthened into a muzzle. She
tried to beg for mercy, but her voice had changed into a roar; she had
become a great white bear.

"Her little boy, Arcas, did not know her any more; he screamed and ran
away into the open fields. There he was found and adopted by a kind
farmer. Callisto could not follow him, but had to hide deep in the woods
to escape the hunters, her former companions.

"As Arcas grew up he inherited his mother's skill at hunting with bow
and arrow. He ranged further and further into the great forest, and at
last one day he came upon Callisto. When she recognized her son she
forgot her bear's shape and ran to hug him, growling with joy. Arcas
thought he was being attacked, and drew his bow. He would have shot
Callisto to the heart if Zeus, who sees all things, had not come to her
rescue. Zeus seized the bear by her tail and swung her up among the
stars. Then, so that Callisto might never again be separated from her
son, he changed Arcas also into a bear, and tossed him too into the
heavens, where they became the Great Bear and the Little Bear."